In the beast world, Su Man used her wood-element powers to farm and raise cubs, tame beasts, and stockpile food. She even managed to keep an entire tribe alive in a wasteland surrounded by ferocious beasts.
But when she opened her eyes, she'd somehow landed in a war-torn era of famine.
The moment she woke up, she found herself tied to a handcart. Her family was selling her off in exchange for twenty jin of coarse rice.
Su Man sneered. “You want to trade me for food? Dream on!”
To avoid being sold again, she promptly latched onto a handsome hunter at the foot of the mountain.
“We've already been intimate. You have to take responsibility.”
Xiao Tieshan fell silent for a moment. “All right. I'll marry you.”
Su Man thought she'd lucked into an honest, capable husband. But once she entered the family, she discovered that the Xiao household was so poor they couldn't scrape a single grain of rice from the bottom of the pot. Her mother-in-law played favorites, her brothers-in-law drained them dry, and the whole family relied on Xiao Tieshan to work himself to the bone.
People laughed at him for being dull and spineless, with no ambition.
Watching him give her his bowl of wild vegetable soup, Su Man sighed. Fine. Since I'm here, I might as well take care of him.
No food?
She could identify hundreds of herbs, recognize their medicinal properties, judge their age, and estimate their value. She could dig up ginseng and gather herbs in the mountains to trade for food.
No vegetables?
With her wood-element powers, she could force crops to grow, improve barren fields, plant vegetables, and raise chickens and rabbits.
No meat?
Her contracted beast, A Li, could find treasure, hunt, and protect her. Not a single animal in the mountains would get away.
While others gnawed on tree bark during the famine, she and Xiao Tieshan stockpiled food and meat, gradually turning their rundown courtyard into a prosperous home.
Later, when rebel forces threatened the land, the poor husband she'd casually picked up returned in armor, now a mighty general feared by all.
Su Man stroked A Li's head and smiled.
“Stockpiling food during a famine and picking up a war god along the way. That's not asking too much, is it?”
Very well written